Wings in the Dark by Michael Murphy Read Free Book Online

throw the whole lot of us in jail. Unlike homicide detectives I’d dealt with, the man wore a tailored suit, and a five-dollar haircut gave his thick silver hair the distinguished look of a politician.
    I extended my hand to the detective. “My name is Jake Donovan, and this is my wife, Laura. Laura Wilson.”
    When the detective ignored my hand, Putnam took charge. “Jake, this is Detective Henry Tanaka from the Honolulu Police Department. Detective, this is Jake Donovan. He’s a licensed detective.”
    My detective license expired after I moved to Florida five years earlier, but Putnam, a master promoter, was dubiously promoting me to detective.
    Tanaka raised an eyebrow. “In Hawaii? How come I haven’t seen you before?”
    I shook my head. “Not in Hawaii.”
    After a quick check of Laura, his eyes narrowed. “I know who you and your wife are, Mr. Donovan. You’re a mystery writer. You looking for material for your next book or publicity for saysyour wife’s next movie?”
    Laura looked like she wanted to sock him.
    Back in the day, I was used to handling local police who objected to my presence. “I have no intention of interfering, Detective. Mr. Putnam merely asked for my assessment of the crime scene.”
    “The last thing I need, Donovan, is a couple of Hollywood types involved. There’ll be enough publicity when the papers get ahold of this.”
    Another reference to Laura and me as a Hollywood couple. I swallowed my pride, “Detective…”
    A man in a rumpled suit and thick wire-rimmed spectacles jumped from the open door of the Lockheed plane. He removed his glasses and wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “Not a thing, Detective.”
    He had to be Tanaka’s partner. The look they exchanged confirmed the obvious. The detective suspected that Amelia Earhart had shot Kalua. Tanaka’s bespectacled partner had searched her plane for the murder weapon.
    I’d read that script before. The cops were just trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together even if they couldn’t. The phone call to the Mambo Club had been accurate. Amelia Earhart and her husband needed our help.
    Amelia finally seemed to understand the fix she was in with the cops.
    Tanaka snatched my handkerchief from my jacket pocket and showed me the black polish on the cloth. “If you don’t want to disturb the crime scene, why did you touch the deceased’s shoes?”
    I didn’t want to help Tanaka. He suspected Amelia, but the detective had me boxed in a corner. “Before coming here, the deceased stopped for a shine.” I showed him the end of my finger.
    Tanaka tossed me the handkerchief, which I stuffed back in my pocket. Then he showed me the black smudge on his thumb. “I saw that too. Why don’t you tell me why that’s so important?”
    I shrugged. Tanaka understood the importance of Kalua’s appearance in an airplane hangar.
    And he’d drawn the same conclusion as me, no doubt.
    To my surprise, his tone softened. He smiled at Amelia. “Because of my respect for Miss Earhart and Mr. Putnam, I’ll give you five minutes, Mr. Donovan. After that you have to leave so my team and I can finish what we started.” He tipped his hat to Laura. “Miss Wilson.”
    Putnam followed Tanaka. “Jake’s a former Pinkerton detective and ran his own agency in Queens.”
    Tanaka glanced toward me. “We’re not in Queens, Mr. Putnam.”
    He nodded to his partner, who approached from the plane. “Pete, make sure Mr. Donovan and Miss Wilson take a powder in five minutes. Not six.”
    “Right, boss.”
    I had little interest in the kid seated on a stool in the rear corner of the place who didn’t look like he spent much time in airplane hangars. I wanted to talk to the blond chain-smoking mechanic before we left. She looked like she lived here.
    I didn’t want Pete listening in on the conversation. He couldn’t follow both Laura and me around. I winked at Laura, who nodded and took Amelia by the arm. To my relief, Pete